An essential guide for today's traveler: timesaving tips to navigate, book, and troubleshoot your travel planning, on and off the Web.

If you've ever tried to find a sale fare you saw advertised for a flight, only to turn up much higher prices, or discovered that the hotel you booked wasn't exactly "steps away from the ocean, " you know that the do-it-yourself era of travel can mean something else entirely: you're on your own.

Now Susan Stellin, a regular contributor to the New York Times, offers the ultimate...